Automobile-signal.



G. F. A. McMJUGALL AUTOMOBILE SIGNAL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11-. 191-1.

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WITNESSES IN VENTOR,

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GEORGE F. A. MGDOUGALL, 015 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB, OF ONE-HALFTO WINSLOW L. JENKINS, OF WEST SOMERVILLE, MASSAGI-IUSETTS.

AUTOMOBILE-SIGNAL.

Application filed September 11, 1914.

To all whom it may concern.

, Be it known that I, GEORGE F. A. Mo- DOUGALL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk, in the State ofMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inAutomobile-Signals, of which the following is a specification, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide an effective, and reasonablycheap, visible signal for use with automobiles and the like vehicles,which signal will be automatically, and prominently exhibited at therear of such a vehicle whenever the vehicle turns to the right or to theleft hand, in order to give due notice of such turning to vehiclesfollowing; thus leaving both hands of the chauffeur, or driver, freeto'operate the steering wheel, clutch levers and other controllingdevices of said vehicle.

My said invention is illustrated in, and by means of, the annexeddrawings, Figure 1 being a perspective ,view of two automobiles equippedwith my improved signal and showing thereby that said automobiles areturning from a right line; the auto at the left hand side of said Fig. 1having started to turn to the right, and the auto at the right hand sideof said Fig. 1 having started to turn toward the left hand. Fig. 2 is arelatively enlarged rear end elevation of a housing or casing which ismounted atthe rear end portion of the auto and which contains themovable indicator, or signaling device, and Fig. 3 is a similar viewshowing my indicator exposed. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the said housingwith the top wall removed so as to disclose the interior, operativeparts of my device. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of two motors,gz'-, and illustrating a simple scheme for wiring sald magnets incircuit with a circuit maker and breaker carried by the steering wheelpost, and so that, when said post is partially rotated in the operationof steering the auto, the proper electric circuit will be closed toenergize one of the said magnets and thus move into view the pro-perindicator, as 1 will explain more in detail later.

Referring to these drawings, the letter a indicates an automobile and Z)a housing or box-like casing which is attached to the auto in positionto be plainly seen by the drivers of following vehicles; said houslnghav- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 19, 1915.

Serial No. 861,186.

ing a central opening 0. Mounted to slide longitudinally in the saidhousing are plates (Z ande that are, preferably, of transparentmaterlal, as glass or celluloid, and having painted, printed orotherwise fixed thereon indicators which point in opposite directions.For example, the plate d carries a hand with index finger extended andpointmg to the right hand and the slidable plate 6 carrles a hand withits index finger pointing to the left hand, as will be understood byreference to Fig. 2 of the drawings. lVhen plate d is slid'forward (thatis to say, toward the right hand) its indicator appears in the openinga, as seen in Fig. 3 and, when the plate 6 is slid forward (that is tosay, toward the left hand) its indicator appears in the said opening.Notice is thus given to following vehicles that the auto carrying thesaid signal is about to turn in the direction indicated by the exposedsignal.

Secured to plate d is a toothed rack d which is engaged by a pinion gearf mounted on the shaft of an electric motor 9 in such manner that therotation or partial rotation of the said shaft will operate to move therack cl and the connected plate cl forward until the indicator of saidplate is exposed to view in the opening 0. Secured to the plate 6 is arack e which is slidably controlled by a pinion gear it carried by theshaft of a small motor-i. These two motors are by preference connectedin circuit with a make and break which is controlled by the rotativemovements of the steering wheel. As here illustrated, the steering wheelpost which is denoted by the reference letter is, is connected by wire10 with a suitable battery, which latter is connected by branch wires toone pole of each of the motors, being connected respectively with fixedcontacts 1112 by wires 13 and 14. Said contacts 11 and 12 are located inthe circular path traversed by a projection 70 of rib form, carried bythe steering post is, the described arrangement of contact parts beingsuch that, when the steering wheel is operated to turn the auto to theright hand, the contact at 11 will be closed and the motor g will beenergized, thus moving the plate (2 forward and exposing the indicatorseen in Fig. 3. Per contra, when the wheel is operated to turn the autoto the left hand, the contact at 12 is engaged and the proper circuit isclosed to energize the motor 2' and thus move the plate 6 forward so asto expose its indicator. When, however, the steering wheel is set at itsstraight-ahead position, both circuits are open and both plates ((23 ande) are in their normal positions; said plates being returned to suchnormal positions after exposure, by means of springs d and 6 I havealready mentioned that the indicator plates 03 and e are, preferably,made of transparent material. In order that the indicators may bereadily seen at night, I provide just back of the opening 0 an electriclight bulb 0 whose wire terminals are located in the paths traversed bythe racks (Z and e and so that the said racks will make a brushingcontact with said terminals when either of said racks is moved forward;the said racks being included in any suitable electric circuit, so thatthe light 0 will be lighted when either of the racks is moved forward,andwill be extinguished when said racks return to their normalpositions.

79 denotes a reflector.

While I have described in detail means for automatically controlling thedesired I cuits could be closed manually by the driver of the auto bymeans of some suitable form of switch or other make and break, but Iprefer the described automatic control as it leaves both hands of thedriver free.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and wish to secure byLetters Patent A device of the class described comprising a casing, saidcasing having an opening formed centrally in its rear wall, platesslidably mounted in the casing and normally on opposite sides of theopening, and having rack-bars fixed adjacent their lower edges and ofthe same length as the plates, said plates corresponding in shape andsize to the opening, motors mounted in the casing and having theirshafts disposed at right angles to the rack-bars',pinions fixed to themotor shafts and in mesh with the rackbars, means yieldably connectingthe plates and casing to normally hold the plates concealed in thecasing, and means distant from the casing to start one motor at a timefor moving the associated plate to cover said opening.

GEORGE F. A. MGDOUGALL.

Witnesses:

FRANK H. ALLEN, MARION I. FERGUSON.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

